Cash Costs Vary Nearly Fivefold by Industry and Region in Finland, Central Bank Study Finds

• Cash handling costs for Finnish retailers averaged EUR 1,293 per year in 2024, but ranged from EUR 554 for cafés to EUR 2,398 for supermarkets

• Depositing accounts for 43% of total cash supply costs across all industries, the single largest cost component

The cost of keeping cash circulating in Finland depends heavily on whether you run a supermarket or a café, and whether your shop sits in Uusimaa or Eastern Finland. A Bank of Finland survey of 208 retail trade entities, published on 5 June, provides the granular data behind that variance.

Supermarkets and department stores bear the highest annual cash handling costs, averaging EUR 2,398. Pharmacies follow at EUR 1,976, driven by disproportionately high banking fees. At the opposite end, cafés and restaurants spend EUR 554 on average, and small food kiosks EUR 670. The spread is not simply a function of company size. Pharmacies, which handle moderate cash volumes, post costs closer to those of large-format retailers than to small food businesses — an indication that industry-specific factors, including the frequency and method of deposits, matter as much as turnover.

Depositing is the dominant cost component, absorbing 43% of total external cash supply expenditure across all sectors. The figure reaches 59% for cafés and restaurants and 45% for service stations. Withdrawal accounts for 18% of costs and transport for 16%. The imbalance reflects the weight of bank fees, cash-in-transit charges and the administrative burden of lodging cash — security requirements, reporting obligations, and the logistical challenge of moving physical currency.

Geographically, Eastern Finland registers the highest annual cost at EUR 1,727 per respondent, followed by Northern Finland at EUR 1,422 and Western Finland at EUR 1,400. Uusimaa and Southern Finland, with denser service networks and shorter cash-in-transit routes, post the lowest figures: EUR 1,079 and EUR 1,102 respectively. Cash-in-transit charges explain the bulk of the regional disparity — longer haul distances and sparser coverage in the east and north translate directly into higher logistics costs.

The cash usage figures provide the context. Cash accounts for 27% of point-of-sale transactions in Finland, according to the ECB's SPACE study — the second-lowest share in the euro area, ahead of only the Netherlands at 22%. Yet the average masks significant variation. In sparsely populated areas, 15% of payment transactions use cash; in large cities such as Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, the share drops to 11.4%. Pharmacies and service stations report the highest cash payment shares by industry, at 13.6% and 18.3% respectively.

The study also catalogued the coping strategies of smaller operators. Among cafés and restaurants, 22% use "other" methods for depositing cash — recirculating it to pay suppliers, storing it in safes, or exchanging it with nearby businesses. For cash withdrawals, the proportion using non-traditional methods rises to 43% across all respondents, and to 55% in Eastern Finland. Small businesses are obtaining cash from customers, from the shopkeeper's own wallet, or through informal local exchanges. The Bank of Finland characterises this as either adaptation or necessity — a response to high-cost or unavailable traditional banking services.

The consumer dimension sharpens the policy question. Seventeen percent of Finnish consumers reported being unable to pay with cash when they wanted to, according to a Bank of Finland consumer survey. The ECB's Companies' Survey on Cash identifies the inconvenience of depositing and withdrawing cash as one of the main reasons Finnish retailers decline to accept it. High cash handling costs, in other words, are translating into reduced cash acceptance, which in turn affects those who rely on physical currency — a cycle that the study's authors suggest requires monitoring to ensure that cash remains accessible for those who need it.